Segesta Lands Another WinStar Matchmaker For Chad Brown originally appeared on Paulick Report.

Juddmonte’s homebred Segesta chased the early pace from second, dueled the front-runner on the far turn, then edged to the lead in the stretch en route to scoring her first victory of the year in the $400,000 WinStar Matchmaker (G3) on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

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Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. for trainer Chad Brown, Segesta had to knuckle down as the finish line approached as favorite Sacred Wish came on gamely to just miss by a neck.

Segesta finished the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.17 on a firm turf course.

A 4-year-old Ghostzapper filly, Segesta added a second graded win to her record and scored for the first time in fourth starts since taking the Wonder Again (G2) at Belmont at the Big A in May 2024.

No Mo Candy set the early tempo and held just a head advantage over the winner through six furlongs, but Segesta was ready to race and outbattled that rival on the turn before edging way.

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Sacred Wish, who bobbled at the break, tracked from fourth along the inside through the early stages and advanced to third at the top of the stretch. She rallied willingly for John Velazquez in the lane and came on gamely between horses late but could do no better than a close second in the field seven fillies and mares.

Segesta’s Brown-trained stablemate Grayosh was third, a nose behind Sacred Wish, while another stablemate, Spaliday, was fifth.

Segesta came in off a sixth-place finish in the Just a Game (G1) June 6 on a less-than-ideal yielding turf course at Saratoga, but was ready for a winning effort Saturday under a patient ride from Ortiz.

“Then I just bided my time,” Ortiz said. “At the three-sixteenths pole I asked her and went a little aggressive on her because she was doing it so easy. I had to wake her up every step of the way. She’s that kind where she doesn’t like you to be too aggressive. I gave her a smooth ride and it worked out.” .

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Brown’s assistant Luis Cabrera said they like all three horses in the race.

“All of them were training good,” he said. “So we weren’t sure how it was going to turn out. Irad Ortiz said this filly relaxed a lot so she was able to get a nice tracking trip. He has ridden her before and he said when she relaxes she is usually good. Her last race (the Just a Game) the turf was yielding and she probably didn’t like that. We like winning this race. We want to keep it going as long as we can.”

Segesta’s victory marks the sixth straight year and seventh time in the past eight years that Brown has won the WinStar Matchmaker.

A total value of $50,000 in stallion seasons was awarded to the top three finishers and a one-time breeding right to WinStar Farm stallion Timberlake.

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Kentucky-bred Segesta ($7.60), who was produced by the First Defence mare Antonoe, improved her record to 3-2-0 from eight career starts that includes a runner-up finish in last year’s Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1).

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Jul 19, 2025, where it first appeared.